The metochi estates: The Makrys Toichos metochi estates

The area of Makrys Toichos and Lower Makrys Toichos, west to the city of Chania, consisted of two metochi estates. Their organisation was typical of the metochi estates, with the main building/residence in the centre and the auxiliary buildings around it, surrounded by farmlands.

The metochi of Lower Makrys Toichos boasted one of the most impressive buildings in the entire Chania plains. It even had a well with a water pump in its courtyard. The estate encircled the top of the hillock where it was built like a fort. According to the 1881 census, it had 330 residents, Christians and Muslims. The 1928 census, after the population exchange, reports 140 residents.

The metochi in Lower Makrys Toichos was declared exchangeable after 1923 and appears to have been granted to refugees, the Eleftheropoulos family. The metochi in Makrys Toichos also hosted refugees, but they were added to the several locals who had been living there for years. Today, these areas have become semi-urban and their uses are mostly residential.

Traces of these estates can be found in the accompanying photographs. The first shows the entrance to the metochi in Makrys Toichos, while the second depicts the large well in the main courtyard of the metochi in the Lower Makrys Toichos.